I#Tr

In English, the name of the letter is the "long I" sound, pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|aɪ}}. In most other languages, its name matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables.

File:The Letter "i" in Different European Languages.png

In the Phoenician alphabet, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative ({{IPA|/ʕ/}}) in Egyptian, but was reassigned to {{IPA|/j/}} (as in English "yes") by Semites because their word for "arm" began with that sound. This letter could also be used to represent {{IPA|/i/}}, the close front unrounded vowel, mainly in foreign words.

The Greeks adopted a form of this Phoenician yodh as their letter iota ({{angle bracket|Ι, ι}}) to represent {{IPA|/i/}}, the same as in the Old Italic alphabet. In Latin (as in Modern Greek), it was also used to represent {{IPA|/j/}} and this use persists in the languages that descended from Latin. The modern letter 'j' originated as a variation of 'i', and both were used interchangeably for both the vowel and the consonant, coming to be differentiated only in the 16th century.{{cite web |last=Calvert |first=J. B. |date=8 August 1999 |title=The Latin Alphabet |url=https://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/latalph.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921034023/https://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/latalph.htm |archive-date=Sep 21, 2022 |work=University of Denver}}

In some sans serif typefaces, the uppercase {{angbr|I}} may be difficult to distinguish from the lowercase letter L, 'l', the vertical bar character '|', or the digit one '1'. In serifed typefaces, the capital form of the letter has both a baseline and a cap height serif, while the lowercase L generally has a hooked ascender and a baseline serif.

The dot over the lowercase 'i' is sometimes called a tittle. The uppercase I does not have a dot, while the lowercase 'i' does in most Latin-derived alphabets. The dot can be considered optional and is usually removed when applying other diacritics. However, some schemes, such as the Turkish alphabet, have two kinds of I: dotted and dotless. In Turkish, dotted İ and dotless I are considered separate letters, representing a front and back vowel, respectively, and both have uppercase ('I', 'İ') and lowercase ('ı', 'i') forms.

The uppercase I has two kinds of shapes, with serifs (File:I with crossbars.svg) and without serifs (File:I without crossbars.svg). Usually these are considered equivalent, but they are distinguished in some extended Latin alphabet systems, such as the 1978 version of the African reference alphabet. In that system, the former is the uppercase counterpart of ɪ and the latter is the counterpart of 'i'.

In Modern English spelling, {{angbr|i}} represents several different sounds, either the diphthong {{IPAc-en|aɪ}} ("long" {{angbr|i}}) as in kite, the short {{IPAc-en|ɪ}} as in bill, or the {{angbr|ee}} sound {{IPAc-en|iː}} in the last syllable of machine. The diphthong {{IPA|/aɪ/}} developed from Middle English {{IPA|/iː/}} through a series of vowel shifts. In the Great Vowel Shift, Middle English {{IPA|/iː/}} changed to Early Modern English {{IPA|/ei/}}, which later changed to {{IPA|/əi/}} and finally to the Modern English diphthong {{IPA|/aɪ/}} in General American and Received Pronunciation. Because the diphthong {{IPA|/aɪ/}} developed from a Middle English long vowel, it is called "long" {{angbr|i}} in traditional English grammar.{{citation needed|reason=These facts come from reliable sources, but they need to be cited specifically. One source on pronunciation of i, another on the Great Vowel Shift and later vowel changes, and a third on traditional English grammatical terminology.|date=April 2015}}

The letter {{angbr|i}} is the fifth most common letter in the English language.{{cite web |title=Frequency Table |url=https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617100224/https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html |archive-date=Jun 17, 2018 |access-date=25 January 2015 |work=Cornell University}}

The English first-person singular nominative pronoun is "I", pronounced {{IPAc-en|aɪ}} and always written with a capital letter. This pattern arose for basically the same reason that lowercase {{angbr|i}} acquired a dot: so it wouldn't get lost in manuscripts before the age of printing:

{{quote|The capitalized "I" first showed up about 1250 in the northern and midland dialects of England, according to the Chambers Dictionary of Etymology.

Chambers notes, however, that the capitalized form didn't become established in the south of England until the 1700s (although it appears sporadically before that time).

Capitalizing the pronoun, Chambers explains, made it more distinct, thus "avoiding misreading handwritten manuscripts."{{cite news|last1=O'Conner|first1=Patricia T.|last2=Kellerman|first2=Stewart|title=Is capitalizing "I" an ego thing?|url=https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/08/capital.html|website=Grammarphobia|access-date=23 December 2014|date=2011-08-10}}}}

In many languages' orthographies, {{angbr|i}} is used to represent the sound {{IPA|/i/}} or, more rarely, {{IPA|/ɪ/}}.

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, {{angbr IPA|i}} represents the close front unrounded vowel. The small caps {{angbr IPA|ɪ}} represents the near-close near-front unrounded vowel.

{{main article|I (disambiguation)}}

• The Roman numeral I represents the number 1.{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedintro0000gord | url-access=registration | quote=roman numerals. | title=Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy | publisher=University of California Press | date=1983 | access-date=3 October 2015 | author=Gordon, Arthur E. | pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedintro0000gord/page/44 44]| isbn=9780520038981 }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PapljPXaSbwC&q=roman%20numerals%20letters&pg=PA282 | title=The Ciphers of the Monks | author=King, David A. | year=2001 | pages=282 | publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |quote=In the course of time, I, V and X became identical with three letters of the alphabet; originally, however, they bore no relation to these letters.| isbn=9783515076401 }}
• In mathematics, a lowercase "{{italics correction|{{math|i}}}}" is used to represent the unit imaginary number,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XNqvi56BT3IC&q=In+mathematics%2C+i+represents+the+unit+imaginary+number&pg=PA8|title=Complex-Valued Modeling in Economics and Finance|last=Svetunkov|first=Sergey|date=2012-12-14|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9781461458760|language=en}} while an uppercase "{{italics correction|{{math|I}}}}" serves to denote an identity matrix.{{cite book |last1=Boyd |first1=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IBcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 |title=Introduction to Applied Linear Algebra: Vectors, Matrices, and Least Squares |last2=Vandenberghe |first2=Lieven |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-108-56961-3 |page=113}}

• I with diacritics: Ị ị Ĭ ĭ Î î Ǐ ǐ Ɨ ɨ Ï ï Ḯ ḯ Í í Ì ì Ȉ ȉ Į į Į́ Į̃ Ī ī Ī̀ ī̀ ᶖ{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|website=Unicode|date=2004-04-19|first=Peter|last=Constable}} Ỉ ỉ Ȋ ȋ Ĩ ĩ Ḭ ḭ ᶤ
• İ i and I ı : Latin letters dotted and dotless I
• IPA-specific symbols related to I: {{IPA link|ɪ}} {{IPA link|ɨ}}
• The Uralic Phonetic Alphabet uses various forms of the letter I:{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=2002-03-20|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|author-link1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal|website=Unicode}}
• {{Unichar|1D35|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL I}}
• {{Unichar|1D62|LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER I}}
• {{Unichar|1D09|LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED I}}
• {{Unichar|1D4E|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL TURNED I}}
• Other variations used in phonetic transcription: ᵻ ᶤ ᶦ ᶧ 𝼚{{Cite web|title=L2/20-125R: Unicode request for expected IPA retroflex letters and similar letters with hooks|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20125r-ipa-retroflex.pdf|date=2020-07-11|first=Kirk|last=Miller}}{{Cite web|title=L2/21-021: Reference doc numbers for L2/20-266R "Consolidated code chart of proposed phonetic characters" and IPA etc. code point and name changes|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21021-consolidated-ipa.pdf|date=2020-12-07|first=Deborah|last=Anderson}}
• ⁱ : Superscript small i is used for computer terminal graphics{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2000/00159-ucsterminal.txt|title=L2/00-159: Supplemental Terminal Graphics for Unicode|date=2000-03-31|website=Unicode|first=Frank da|last=Cruz}}
• Ꞽ ꞽ : Glottal I, used for Egyptological yod{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17076r2-n4792r2-egyptological-yod.pdf|title=L2/17-076R2: Revised proposal for the encoding of an Egyptological YOD and Ugaritic characters|date=2017-05-09|website=Unicode|first=Michel|last=Suignard}}
• Ɪ ɪ : Small capital I
• ꟾ : Long I
• ꟷ : Sideways I

• {{lang|phn|𐤉}} : Semitic letter Yodh, from which the following symbols originally derive:
• Ι ι: Greek letter Iota, from which the following letters derive:
• {{Script|Copt|Ⲓ ⲓ}} : Coptic letter Yota
• І і : Cyrillic letter soft-dotted I
• 𐌉 : Old Italic I, which is the ancestor of modern Latin I
• {{Script|Runr|ᛁ}} : Runic letter isaz, which probably derives from old Italic I
• {{Script|Goth|𐌹}} : Gothic letter iiz

{{See also|Dotted and dotless I in computing}}

{{charmap

| 0049 | name1 = Latin Capital Letter I

| 0069 | name2 = Latin Small Letter I

| 0131 | name3 = Latin Small Letter
Dotless I

| FF29 | name4 = FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I

| FF49 | name5 = FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER I

| map1 = EBCDIC family | map1char1 = C9 | map1char2 = 89

| map2 = ASCII¹ | map2char1 = 49 | map2char2 = 69

| map3 = ISO 8859-3 | map3char1 = 49 | map3char2 = 69 | map3char3 = B9

| map4 = ISO 8859-9 | map4char1 = 49 | map4char2 = 69 | map4char3 = FD

}}

: ¹ Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

{{Letter other reps

|NATO=India

|Morse=··

|Character=I9

|Braille=⠊

|fingerspelling=I

}}

{{clear}}

{{reflist}}

{{EB1911 Poster|I}}

• {{Commons-inline|I}}
• {{Wiktionary-inline|I}}

{{Latin script|I|}}

Category:ISO basic Latin letters

Category:Vowel letters